Mykhailo Fodorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and above all Minister for Digital Transformation, has not ceased, since the beginning of the invasion by Russia, to call on the big digital companies on social networks to boycott the invader, in the name of human values “.
On March 2, he issued a similar message to the video game industry, calling it ” to temporarily block the accounts of Russian and Belarusian players, to temporarily halt the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams in all international esports events and to cancel all international events scheduled on Russian and Belarusian soil “. Several major video game players have announced that they will stop selling in both countries since this call.
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You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now. Russia declares war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should live the Russian market! pic.twitter.com/tnQr13BsSv
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 2, 2022
Microsoft reactive, Sony and Nintendo more timid
On his Tweet, Myckhailo Fodorov directly named two major players in the industry, Sony and Xbox. Microsoft, behind the Xbox, announced on Friday March 4 that most of its products will no longer be available in Russia, including those related to its video game activity. Sony has not had any official statements, but some specialized media note that his hit Gran Tourismo 7released the same Friday, was not available in Russia.
Like Sony, the third major player in the console universe, Nintendo, did not react. Purchases via its eShop are nevertheless suspended in Russia. This is clearly not a decision of the Japanese company as explained by the Russian eShop site, ” As the payment service used in the Nintendo eShop has suspended the processing of ruble payments, the Nintendo eShop in Russia is temporarily placed in maintenance mode “.
Valve is in the same situation, without having taken a public position, the company is hampered by the decisions of third parties. Ars-Technica notes that card payments are unavailable on the very popular Steam platform in Russia. This also applies to purchases via PayPal, which ceased operations in the country on March 5. It remains possible to acquire games for those who have money in the wallets of the platform.
Some actors leave Russia without amalgamating their players in the Kremlin
As for the big names in video games, CD Projekt Red was one of the first to act on Myckhailo Fodorov’s message, blocking physical and digital sales of their games in Russia on March 3. The studio’s home country of Poland, feeling threatened by the Kremlin, was able to play. CD Projekt Red still had a word for Russian and Belarusian gamers” who individually have nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine “.
— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) March 3, 2022
This is one of the criticisms addressed to the message of the Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation, namely that the boycott will affect people who played no role in the war started by Vladimir Putin. A valid position for most international sanctions and similar decisions by other technology companies. The resulting pressure on the Russian and Belarusian populations is one of the reasons for their existence, so that it affects the authorities in power.
In the same vein, Epic Games has suspended on March 4 the sale of games in Russia and Belarus, but decided not to block their access to online games, including Fortnite. The company justified this balancing act in its message, “ We don’t block access for the same reason other communication tools stay online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open “.
A real blow to the Russian gaming community comes from Take-Two. The publisher has also suspended sales according to gamesindustry.biz, new game installations or its marketing campaigns in the territories concerned. Take-Two is behind the Rockstar studio, itself at the origin of GTA V, the third most popular game in Russia. An edition of GTA V on next-gen console is due to launch later this month.
Protect directly affected video game industry employees
On March 4, Activision Blizzardfollowed three days later by Ubisoft, also temporarily left the Russian market. The sports branch of the French publisher had already removed Russian and Belarusian teams from FIFA and NHL games.
The two companies especially sent a message of support to their teams on site. Each announced that they had implemented means for their security by helping them to flee and find new accommodation. Bloomberg recalls that Ubisoft has an office in Kiev, which has been under bombs for several days, as well as in Odessa, also hit by the Russian army in the past 24 hours.
Another important structure in the gaming universe is facing the same challenges, Wargamming, the studio behind World of Tanks. An additional difficulty in this case, the company is Belarusian. She had to fire her creative director after he supported the Russian military on Facebook. She also promised a donation to the Ukrainian Red Cross. The studio Bungie also went to charity with the Game2Give fundraiser.
the Huffington Post Finally, mentions the case of Ukrainian video game companies. Unsurprisingly, his latest did not wait for Myckhailo Fodorov’s message to act. On February 24, the studio GSC Game World, developer of the game STALKER, called to support the army and called for donations for the soldiers. It was imitated by 4AGames, ironically known for its title Metro 2033a game, taken from a book, taking place in the Moscow metro where humanity survives after an apocalyptic war…